Tesfahuney scored her biggest hit in the mid-1960s with “Tegezana Abi Hedmo” – or “Our Lovely House” (is infested with bedbugs and fleas) – which was a criticism of Ethiopia‘s occupation and was subsequently banned. This lead to her fleeing to Sweden in 1970, but that lasted only for a few years.

In 1975, Tiberih Tesfahuney returned to Eritrea and joined the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front. Two years later during a battle in Adi Hawesh, a piece of shrapnel from a RPG left her deaf in her left ear. The EPLF sent her to Sudan to recover from the injury. In 1985, the EPLF office in Sudan eventually decided to send her to Germany to get treatment for her hearing. She stayed there until 1994, when she returned to Eritrea once again. Upon her return, she opened a bar called Ab Hedmo – after her favorite song – in the town of Asseb.

Tiberih Tesfahuney published her autobiography – Two Lives: A True Story – in 1999. It was originally written in Tigrigna, the majority of it has been translated into English – which you can find HERE. Tesfahuney passed away on March 1st, 2007. She was buried at Martyr’s Cemetery in Asmara.

Assress Tessema was one of the founders of the Association of the Asmara Theatre. He and his group recorded two other singles for the Philips label – “Temeharu” / “Sewit Lemlem” (PH 7-139) with Tiberih Tesfahuney and “Harestay” / “Meaza” (PH 7-180) without.

For those of you who have been following the site with any sort of regularly, you know that one of the things that has really blown my mind, is the music of Eritrea. Of the four singles I have been able to find from there, three of them have left me utterly gobsmacked.

I am sure I have uttered at some point in these hundred eighty some odd posts, that the process of discovery is what I live for. And when you discover something entirely new – at least to your own ears – it makes it yours. Of course, this music was never supposed to be “yours” in the first place. This music was never intended for you or I to ever hear… That is, unless you are Eritrean. And even then, these records were hard to find.

Music from Eritrea, as well as the northern territory of Ethiopia of the Tigray people, was heavily suppressed by the Derg. According to the liner notes of Buda Musique’s Ethiopiques, Vol. 5: Tigrigna, records “were sometimes buried in peoples’ yards to avoid detection” and that many of the musicians went on to fight in the war for Eritrean independence.

I have not been able find any information about Wendyifraw Weretta or the label Kothari. Tekle Adhanom, who was the arranger on this single, was a well known guitarist who also recorded with Alèmayèhu Eshèté and Beyene Fire.

There have been quite a few times in the past year, when I have considered throwing in the towel and calling Radiodiffusion Internasionaal quits. I’ll admit that there has a been a few records that I have posted that I haven’t been all that crazy about. And there’s been more than a handful of posts that have been cranked out in thirty minutes or less… The time and money… It gets to be a bit much. Then, a record like this falls into my hands.

After I managed to get my eyeballs back in their sockets and scraped my jaw off of the floor… I was reminded of why I do this. This is what it is all about. Right here. Two sides of pure joy.

Reality begins to set back in, and the questions start to come… Who were these people? Who concocted these otherworldly sounds from the intersection of The Modern and The Traditional? The mysteries that a record without a sleeve poses…I cannot deny that there is an almost fetish allure of non-Latin characters… What language is that? What does it say?

Of course, there is almost no information available. All I can tell you is that Negash Tekie performed in London in 2002 at a benefit for Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights. But for Mulugeta Tlahun… I got nothing. I do know that the type along the bottom of the label reads: “Ye EritreaTe. Gi. (Teklay Gizat) Police Muziqa Kifil” which translates as “Province of Eritrea Police – Division of Music”.

As for the label, Emporio Musicale, I am assuming that the person responsible is “Cav. E. Cipriani” (since Eritrea was ruled by Italy from 1890 to 1940) and that he (or she) was based in the capitol city of Asmara.But that’s just a guess… The only other record I have seen on this label, was in rough shape.

If you have any information on either of these artists, or any of the other records that were released on this label, please contact me.

Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country situated in northern East Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

In 2003, the Government of Eritrea banned Amharic language music. Amharic (Ethiopian) music used to be imported much like west African or western music, but none was ever produced in Eritrea. Although some can understand Amharic, no one born and raised in Eritrea speaks Amharic as their mother toungue.